My supervisor said if I had a medical necessity to use the toilet, I
should go get a note from my doctor. And my doctor thought I was crazy.
She told me, “I’m sure one person going to the toilet wouldn’t mean the
collapse of an entire T-Mobile customer service center!”

... After a long consultation with H.R. to make sure it would be air tight, I
got the doctor’s note, so I was free to go to the bathroom whenever I
needed. But T-Mobile was absolutely not going to pay me for going to the
toilet. So every time I needed to go, I had to clock out and lot out of
the system. Then I had to write it down and turn it into resource
planning – just to make sure it I wasn’t gone an unreasonable amount of
time! ... I would sprint – as much as a heavily pregnant woman can — between my
desk and the bathroom to make sure I squeezed every second I could out
of my work day. Everything I did was scrutinized. I felt picked on.
Someone was always watching over my shoulder, monitoring my performance. . .

Finally one of my doctors told me that she was putting me on full FMLA.
It was all too much. I still wasn’t eating, drinking and using the
toilet like I was supposed it. I was getting sick. My blood pressure was
sky high. I was stressed about the possibility of losing my job and my
health insurance. I wanted to tell my story because this is why paid medical and sick
leave is so important. No one should have to go through what I did.